The majority of malpractice suits in Emergency Medicine involve patients who were discharged to home. These patients experienced an unexpected adverse outcome after they left, such as worsening of their illness or death. Although not all adverse outcomes after discharge are the result of medical error, in many cases, patients have risk factors or warning signs present at the time of discharge that are either ignored or not recognized. Based on our review of the literature and examination of hundreds of malpractice cases, we have identified common themes related to risk, patient safety, and quality of care that can be used to analyze encounters where the patient died soon after discharge.
In this activity, we present various cases and employ tools, including medical-legal analysis and the cognitive autopsy, to dissect the issues that led to the patient’s death. In addition, we scrutinize each case presentation for clues in the history, risk factors, physical exam, diagnostic data, and medical decision-making that were missed by the physicians and should have caused them to stop and reconsider their plan to discharge the patient. Our goal is for practitioners to develop a mental checklist that will help them to avoid medical errors at the time of patient discharge. After completing this activity, practitioners should be able to: apply risk and safety recommendations for patients with abnormal vital signs in order to prevent adverse outcomes and death after discharge from the Emergency Department; integrate awareness of the life-threatening conditions that may have an atypical presentation into clinical practice in order to improve patient safety, improve documentation and decrease the risk of exposure to medical malpractice; and assess the reasons why patients with neuropsychiatric disabilities are at higher risk for adverse outcomes and death after discharge from the ED.
- Provider:The Sullivan Group
- Activity Link: https://www.thesullivangroup.com/RSQSolutions/course-purchase-home/
- Start Date: 2022-07-14 05:00:00
- End Date: 2022-07-14 05:00:00
- Credit Details: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™️: 2.0 hours
- Commercial Support: No
- Activity Type: Enduring Material
- CME Finder Type: Online Learning
- Fee to Participate: Variable
- Measured Outcome: Learner Competence, Learner Knowledge, Learner Performance, Patient Health
- Provider Ship: Directly Provided
- Registration: Open to all